Since their inception, toy dolls or action figures have been extremely popular with children in a broad range of ages. As this popularity has grown, prior art toy dolls and action figures have become more sophisticated, incorporating circuitry in the doll itself, or in attachments for the doll, which provides audible messages or sound effects. Although the prior art delivery of audible messages or sound effects has been reasonably successful in providing children with a greater degree of excitement or enthusiasm over non-verbal dolls, these prior art systems have been incapable of providing predictable, focused entertainment for the children in a manner which is controllable by the children using these prior art dolls or action figures.
The conventional prior art doll or action figure constructions are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,810; U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,140; U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,233; U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,335; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,653. In addition, the references cited in these patents also disclose the state of this art.
In particular, the prior art dolls are constructed to enunciate words or phrases in either a preset sequence or in a random sequence with the words or phrases being selected from a finite prerecorded vocabulary or group of phrases. Although these prior art dolls or action toys do provide the children with some degree of entertainment, the child is unable to control the doll by focusing the doll's speech abilities in a particular area desired by the child. Instead, the words or phrases enunciated by the doll, when activated by the child, are continuously repeated or automatically selected randomly. However, the audible words are incapable of being controlled by the child.
Similarly, prior art dolls or action toys which connect to sound producing attachments, have audio producing means formed within the attachment which is specifically limited to sound effects or prerecorded words or phrases repeated in a manner similar to the talking doll. Consequently, these prior art devices are also incapable of providing the degree of control or focus sought by many children.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a toy doll or action figure which is capable of providing audible messages specifically limited to a particular subject, activity, or area of interest desired by the user.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a talking doll or action figure having the characteristic features described above which is capable of being completely controlled by the user to enunciate one or more independent statements, words, or phrases relevant to one particular subject, activity or interest area.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a talking doll or action figure having the characteristic features described above which is easy to use, while also being quickly and easily adapted to a wide variety of alternate activities, subjects or interest areas, totally in the control of the user.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.